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Scholars, advertisers and political activists see massive online social networks as a representation of social interactions that can be used to study the propagation of ideas, social bond dynamics and viral marketing, among others. But the linked structures of social networks do not reveal actual interactions among people. Scarcity of attention and the daily rhythms of life and work makes people default to interacting with those few that matter and that reciprocate their attention. A study of social interactions within Twitter reveals that the driver of usage is a sparse and hidden network of connections underlying the "declared" set of friends and followers.

Most people dabble in many social networks but eventually settle into only one or two that they keep up with on anything resembling a long-term basis. To narrow it down, though, I'd find out which social networks your friends frequent and sign up for them.

You may think that many adults have joined the online trend mainly to network professionally with others in their field. However, that turns out not to be true. Instead adults, like teens, are there to socialize with their friends and people they already know. Nearly nine in ten social network users (89%) say they use the networks to stay in touch with friends, and 57% say they use it to make plans with friends. Under half (49%) use the sites to make new friends.

With Facebook officially turning five years old recently, combined with the site surging past MySpace in Monthly Unique Visitors, it seems like a good time to take a little deeper look at the social networking giants.

I am seeing a day rapidly approaching where many of the major Institutions provide platforms that empower open content and scholarly activity … a place where the next LMS/CMS is simply a browser, a social bookmarking toolset, and perhaps a social recommendation space (like Times People). Imagine how amazing it will be when the best content is published in the open where debate, conversations, and discourse happens at the micro and macro level.

Twitter is not a tool for people who are new to social media and the use of social media for personal learning and work.

A theory: Facebook management is acting like a group of cult leaders intent on changing the rest of us into more social, less private people than we might want to be. Maybe all social networking services are trying to do that - but the way Facebook is going about it feels particularly cult-like.

Mapping potential processes of informal learning through social media

Apparently Baby Boomers aren't exactly the technology Luddites that people think they are. In fact, more than 60 percent of those in this generational group actively consume socially created content like blogs, videos, podcasts, and forums.

GROU.PS is a platform for social groups to get together. Use it for any purpose. Choose your template and pick all the modules that you want (wiki, blogs, photos, links etc).

Information technologies are having a significant impact on how people work, play, gain information, and collaborate. Increasingly, those who use technology in ways that expand their global connections are more likely to advance, while those who do not will find themselves on the sidelines. With the growing availability of tools to connect learners and scholars all over the world - online collaborative workspaces, social networking tools, mobiles, voice-over-IP, and more - teaching and scholarship are transcending traditional borders more and more all the time. (Emphasis mine.)

The International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments provides readers with a comprehensive coverage of developments in learning technologies for an international readership of educators and trainers. The journal is a primary source for academics, professionals, corporate trainers and policy makers in information and communications technologies. The journal publishes work of a high standard on a range of fields associated with Course Management Systems (CMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), Personalized Learning Environments (PLE), Social Networking Software (SNS), and 3D virtual worlds, including for example Second Life (SL).

Because of the rapidly growing popularity of social networking sites and in an attempt to reach out to those participating, many libraries have created their own Twitter accounts. Although the original intent was to network with patrons and others within their community, many libraries are finding that Twitter has many other uses beyond the simple "what are you doing?" tweet.

Instead, what I see happening is being done on smaller scales. It's individual concept workers reaching out to other people (known or not known), through networks or social media, to get help with their particular needs.

Open teaching is described as the facilitation of learning experiences that are open, transparent, collaborative, and social. Open teachers are advocates of a free and open knowledge society, and support their students in the critical consumption, production, connection, and synthesis of knowledge through the shared development of learning networks.

George Bradford and I presented a poster session at the 2008 Sloan ALN Conference entitled Social Bookmarking Lessons Learned: Harnessing the Power of Networked Bibliographic Resources for Web 2.0 Learning.

As students continue to use Facebook to connect and communicate in increasing numbers, it has also become common for faculty members to consider the use of this social networking site to facilitate interaction in educational contexts. One of the perennial questions that arises is whether faculty should accept Facebook "friend requests" from students.

Engage your entire campus community through the first interoperable Facebook application designed for institutions of higher learning.

Networked teachers began to use a number of types of tools and connected well beyond what was normal within a "typical" teacher network. Teachers are not just connected WITH these tools, they are connected THROUGH these tools to other humans. The most important part of PLNs, in my opinion, is how they can help us connect to other humans, to help us better understand the world, to negotiate knowledge and meaning, and of course, to help us to learn.